Happy Halloween!

 Greetings! Happy Halloween! The students had a spooktacular day in first grade!

We began our day with Mass. Today, Fr. Brian reminded us to keep holy the Sabbath day by attending Mass with our families. He would love to see the church full at all of the Masses!

After our Spelling test, it was time to celebrate Halloween! The students quickly changed into their costumes; they were ready to party! We began by making a spider web out of pipe cleaners and yarn. The students then placed spider rings on the web. They then lifted the web to see how many spiders fell through. 

Next, we played several minute-to-win-it games. First up was vampire teeth; the students put vampire teeth in their mouth and had to see how many marshmallows they could get in a cup. Next up was Pumpkins on a Gate; the students tried to place as many candy pumpkins as they could on a popsicle stick. Many discovered it was harder the more you put on. Following that we played witch pitch where the students tossed candy corn into a witch's cauldron. Finally, we played ghost stack. The students used cups to build a tower. Before we knew it is was time for lunch. 

Here are some pictures from the games: 

This afternoon we watched Hotel Transylvania and enjoyed a snack from Fr. Brian. 

I hope everyone has a great and safe weekend! Enjoy trick-or-treating! 

Crazy Hair Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! It was a crazy good learning day in first grade! 

We began our day by practicing for the All Saints' Day prayer service with our 8th grade friends. We are all ready to go for Monday. After practice, we prayed the fourth decade of the Glorious Mysteries. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. Today, we used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read words with end blends and words with the inflectional ending -ing, and wrote sentences using our sight words. To help our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a poem and completed pages in our close reading companion that helped us build comprehension skills when reading poetry. We ended class by taking our weekly assessment and identifying possessive nouns in sentences. 

In Math class today we played detectives. We looked at a number sentence and had to tell whether it was true or false. The students loved doing this and were sad when we finished the lesson. 

For Gym class, we headed outside. It was amazing watching the children run from one end of the parking lot to the other. They have so much energy. 

In Social Studies class, we wrapped our chapter on communities. We will begin our unit on geography next week. 

We ended our day with Halloween fun. We listened to the story Where's My Mummy. Then we wrote about what our moms do when we are scared. We are in the process of creating a mummy. We will finish it tomorrow morning. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is Halloween. Don't forget your costume! 

Our Class Pumpkin!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Today was another great day in first grade. 

We began our day by practicing for our All Saints' Day Prayer Service. The students are really getting excited for it on Monday. After practice, we prayed the third decade of the Glorious Mysteries. This afternoon, we wrapped up our chapter on Adam and Eve. Next, we will look at what happened to Adam and Eve. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading words with end blends and words with the inflectional ending -ing, and our sight words. We also practiced segmenting words into sounds. To help build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a story from our literature anthology. Following reading that story we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on main idea and details. 

This afternoon we practiced writing possessive nouns. We also wrote the steps in carving a pumpkin. 

In Math class, we looked at a number sentence and wrote a related number sentence. For example, if given 2+3=5, we wrote as the related number sentence 5-3=2. 

We ended our day with some Halloween fun. Today, we carved our class pumpkin. Isn't it cute? 

Have a great night! 

A Real Artist!

 Greetings! I hope everyone is warm and dry tonight. It is a good night to snuggle! 

There was lots of excitement in first grade today; we had our artist come and teach us about shading. We really loved working with Joanne from the Bottleworks and learning how to shade. We even practiced during recess. We are very excited to have her come back next week. Thank you HSA for bringing this program to our school. 

In between the visit, we did some learning. 

We began our day with Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus. 

We began Language Arts by reviewing our oral vocabulary words from yesterday and then learned three new words (hibernate, tranquil, and tolerate). We then worked on rereading for understanding as we read about the desert. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with end blends. Following that, we learned how to blend and read words with the inflected ending -ing. We ended the morning by using our sight words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we focused on comprehension. This week we are focusing on main idea and key details. We reread our story from yesterday and our decodable reader and wrote about the main idea and details in each of them. Finally, we practiced using possessive pronouns in sentences. 

In Math class today, we learned about fact families. Using a number bond, we were able to write two addition and two subtraction sentences. The students really enjoyed doing this. 

Just a reminder that saint costumes are due tomorrow. Have a great night! 

Red Ribbon Week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thank you so much for sending in the leaves today. We were able to complete our project! 

We began Religion class by heading over to church to practice for our All Saints' Day prayer service which in next Monday. I am so proud of how well the students listened today! When we came back to the classroom, we talked about how we receive God's grace when we are baptized. We ended class by praying the first decade of the Glorious Mysteries. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about animals' habitats. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (habitat and depend). We then worked on rereading for understanding as we read Babies in the Bayou. Following that we sorted words based on same ending sound. Next, we learned how to blend and read words with end blends and our sight words. After that, we read The Best Spot, a nonfiction story about animals in the forest. We ended the morning by working in our small reading groups. 

This afternoon we reviewed possessive nouns; we practiced finding them in sentences.

In Math class today we continued to practice solving subtraction word problems. Again, the students did a great job at explaining their thinking. 

This week is Red Ribbon Week, a week dedicated to saying no to drugs. Today we talked about making healthy choices and about being drug free. We will continue to talk about this during the week. 

Have a great night! 

Mosaic Cats!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end the week! 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about not holding grudges and taking the time to make amends with one another. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. Today, we used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and wrote sentences using our sight words. To practice reading short u words and contractions, we played BINGO. The students loved it; you could hear the excitement in the room. We ended class by taking our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving subtraction word problems. They did a nice job of solving the problems and explaining their thinking. 

In Science class today we learned the difference between living and nonliving things. We sorted objects into each category and drew things that belong in each group. 

We ended our day with Art. Today we made a mosaic black cat. The students worked so hard at them and are so proud of their work. They are waiting anxiously for them to be hung for all to see. Here are two of the cats: 

This week, we also decorated a Halloween ornament to hang on a tree. Here is our Halloween tree! 

Have a great weekend! 

Perfect Gym Class!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I could not get over what a beautiful day we had today. It was hard to come in from Gym class! 

In Religion class today we talked about grace. We learned that grace is God's life in us and helps us to complete our mission in life. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read short u words, contractions, and our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension we partner read a story from our decodable readers. We also read a story about homes and completed pages in our close reading companion related to that. Finally, we practiced using plural nouns in sentences. 

We ended our morning with some Halloween fun. Today we read Creepy Carrots. Then we wrote about what we would do if creepy carrots were following us. I just loved seeing their creative responses! 

In Math class today, we practiced writing subtraction sentences for pictures. The key for us is to look closely at a picture and decide what is being taken away. 

Gym class outside was beautiful. The students ran around the parking lot, laughing and smiling. It was perfect!

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today we talked about why people move: to get a job or to be close to family. 

Have a great night!